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“Shogun” Rua Discusses Future: “I Still Want to Become the World Champion”

Following “Shogun” Rua’s upset, submission loss to Chael Sonnen at UFC Fight Night 26 Saturday, which marked his second consecutive defeat, the fighter has announced he intends to continue fighting.

In a statement Rua and his manager Leonardo Salomao have released, the former light-heavyweight champ was quoted saying (transcription via MMA Fighting.com):

“I have 11 years in MMA and Vale Tudo, I won everything I always wanted,” Rua stated. “I achieved everything I dreamed, but I want to do that again. I still want many victories; I still want to become the world champion again. Who decides when I will stop (fighting) or not is myself, no one else. Thank God I’m financially stable, and I keep fighting because I love it.”

“I’m a really competitive guy, who hates to be defeated,” he said. “I know I did everything I should have done during my preparation, but Sonnen was better on the fight. Unfortunately, in the fight (business), we have to wait a lot to return and bounce back. In soccer, you lose on Sunday and win on Wednesday, everything is ok. I’ll get back home, see what went wrong on the fight and train hard to make sure that mistake won’t happen again.”

Rua, who was lost by unanimous decision to Alexander Gustafsson last December, has lost back-to-back bouts now for the first time in his career.

“Mauricio invested a lot in this camp, trained with the best, went to the United States to learn new techniques, so we decided to maintain the same team,” Salomao stated. “He trained with Freddie Roach in the US, took Jacob Harman to Curitiba, had the support of Glaube Feitosa, Roberto Gordo and Renato Babalu on his corner. He was really well prepared, but Sonnen was better. Mauricio is a winner and I’m sure he will be back.”